Ujjwala scheme to help 40 lakh homes in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Around 40 lakh below poverty level (BPL) households in state are to get free LPG cylinders under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana scheme. The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has planned an awareness drive in 314 blocks of the state from July 11 to spread awareness among the beneficiaries.

"The beneficiaries will be educated about the process and the scheme at the awareness campaign," said Pritish Bharat, IOC's state general manager.

As many as 115,000 BPL card-holders have applied to get LPG connection under the scheme so far while around 11,281 have received cylinders, official sources said. The scheme was launched in the state on June 20.

Odisha has about 46 lakh BPL card-holders, as per the Socio Economic Caste Census 2011, of whom about 5.7 lakh households have existing LPG consumers.

Official sources said, states with low LPG penetration like Odisha are given more focus for Ujjwala scheme. Odisha has 39% LPG penetration as compared to the national average of 62%.

"Safety of the beneficiary households are given importance so we are insisting on pucca houses or houses with proper ventilation. A field verification of the households are being done before allotting the cylinders," said G Swaminathan, chief LPG manager, IOC.

Under the PM Ujjwala Yojana, the government aims to provide LPG connections to BPL households in the country. The scheme is aimed at replacing the unclean cooking fuels mostly used in the rural India with the clean and more efficient LPG.